Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2025
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
Psychology
Advisor
Joshua Clegg
Committee Members
Michelle Fine
Jason VanOra
Elizabeth Dill
Justin Brown
Subject Categories
Social Psychology
Keywords
Professional Identity, Neoliberalism, Social Work
Abstract
This dissertation examines how US social workers navigate professional identity formation amid the expanding influence of neoliberal doctrines on social work practice. Through biographical life history analysis spanning pre-neoliberal through contemporary periods, this study traces three practitioners' identity development processes as they negotiate structural, legislative, and administrative changes that challenge foundational professional values and autonomy.
The research conceptualizes professional identity as an ongoing dialectical process through which practitioners at the same time reproduce, resist and potentially impact restraining structural conditions of their practice. Through analysis of critical moments in practitioners' personal, educational, and career trajectories, the study investigates the relationship between externally imposed alterations and changes in professional identity, understandings of client relationships and caring, and professional discretion. The work contributes to the field of knowledge about neoliberal impact on social workers’ practice conditions through its biographical approach, which examines identity processes as lived experiences unfolding across historical time, capturing instances of the practitioners’ internalization, resistance, and potential transformation of structural changes.
The dissertation contends that neoliberal pressures present an existential challenge to social work by reframing client-worker relationships from a logic of care toward a logic of choice. As a counterpoint to this, the work identifies expressions of critical and transformative potential within practitioners' identity development processes. It suggests that understanding professional identity formation as an agentic process points to routes for practitioners which may make it possible for them to resist professional distortions while empowering their collective capacity for enacting solidarity and care with clients.
Recommended Citation
Melchior, Johan, "Between Structure and Agency: Professional Identity Development in Social Work's Neoliberal Transformation" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6393
